Monday, April 23, 2012

The Cebu Executives and Professionals Chess Association as part of its purpose to promote the game will reach out to our brothers in prison so they can “ learn from a game that rewards patience and problem-solving and apply it to their own lives.”
We will start in Mandaue City Jail as the warden,Jessie Calumpang,is very receptive to the idea and related to one of our officers,Jun Olis.
I got the idea from Cook County Jail Sheriff Tom Dart of Illinois who said "It helps you gain mental clarity and keeps you focused."
We believe that chess will teach the inmates "responsibility, planning ahead, patience, problem solving, and learning from past mistakes to name a few."
"We see it day-in and day-out that people want instant gratification and that often individuals do not think before they act," Dart said . "Thoughtless actions will hurt you while playing chess and hurt you more on the street."
"It makes your mind expand," said inmate Kevin Upshaw. "It is like life. I am incarcerated. I am trying to unlock my mind. Chess is going to help me."
"I love that it teaches you the art of thinking that I can apply to everyday life," said inmate Jack Moody.
"It gives them something to do. The benefits are amazing," said Sheriff Dart. "This is a unique thing, and they are paying for it themselves, not the taxpayers...Some are tournament ready to challenge other inmates in jails, and they are paying for this themselves."
After Mandaue, Cepca will go to other jails in Cebu like BBRC and Operation Second Chance.
Our program,which is scheduled next month is to hold simul tournaments to be conducted by Cepca members and inmate winners will be rewarded with some cash including draws.
Cepca president Jojo Muralla,club secretary Dante Arguelles ,Membership chairman Jun Olis and Mike Banebane will conduct the simul against 10 opponents each.
Mandaue City Jail has around 855 inmates.
“We will also conduct a tournament among inmates with cash prizes and trophy going to the winners and donate chess sets to the jail” said Jojo.
Visayas Age Group our future kiddie chess journalist and chess player, KC Morala sent in this report.
“ Cebuanos ruled the National Age Group Visayas Eliminations in Kalibo, Aklan last April 8-10, 2012.
Alphecca Gonzales reigns among the participants of Girls 8-under
Though Jazzelle Villarin takes off with an impressive performance of straight wins in the early rounds, Ruth de Guzman from Makati City trips her off the race for the champion trophy on the fourth place. A draw with second placer Michelle Yaon and another loss on her last round with Jean Karen Enriquez lands her on the sixth place for the Girls 16-under division. Meanwhile, her colleague KC Morala finishes ninth.
Jessa Balbona barely managed to hang on in the Top 10 in the Girls 20-under category, finishing the six rounds with two wins and two draws.
Jeremy Pepito takes the limelight for the second place in the Open 10-under category.
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A loss to Paulo Bersamina, later the title holder for the Open 14-under, and a draw with Lanz Otero lays Rhenzi Kyle Sevillano in the third place. Half a point behind him, fellow Cebuano John Francis Balbona gets hold of fourth rank.
Half a point behind, Allan Pason takes his throne on the second place. Meanwhile, Felix Shaun Balbona and Diego Abraham Claro gets fifth and seventh place respectively.
Aldritz Pondoyo settles for third, with James Andrew Balbona closely following, placing right next to Pondoyo. Duane Borgonia seizes sixth place.
Michael Silvaderio gets a hold in the 9th place for the Open 20-under.”

Saturday, April 14, 2012

Poker! Do you know that there are an estimated 300 million poker players world wide and that number keeps growing every year? Chances are, within a five or ten mile radius of where you are right now, there are probably hundreds of poker games happening in people’s homes, and card clubs. Not to mention the hundreds of thousands of poker games online and in casinos.

Poker is everywhere. It’s on TV 7 nights a week worldwide. People just love it.

In Cebu alone there are more poker clubs than chess clubs. Officially. The chess clubs in Cebu are Collonade Mall,Deep Blue in SM and Kawayan Grill in Mabolo,home of Cepca.

Poker clubs are Diamond and Allin in Cebu City, Parkmall and Metro in Mandaue and Tulip in Mactan. Investments in each of these poker clubs are in the mid 7 figures including the franchise fee to Pagcor. The final stop of the fifth season of the PokerStars Asia Pacific Poker Tour (APPT) will take place in the Waterfront Airport Hotel & Casino ,Cebu City on April 24-30The tournament was won last time by the first female to ever take down an APPT title -Im Young Shin who conquered the P100,000 buy-in Main Event in 2010 over a 236-player field to win P 5.81 million in prize money.She will be back this year.It will be the first time that the tournament will be hosted at the Waterfront Airport Hotel and Casino. Previously,it was held on the luxurious Shangri-La Mactan Resort where Poker Stars qualifiers will be staying.The easiest way to get a seat at APPT Cebu is to qualify online with PokerStarsSatellites for as low as $1.10 has been running online since February 13 almost every 10 minutes. I have tried several times.Here is the schedule:April 24 – P10,000 buyin Cebu CupApril 25 – P100,000 APPT Cebu Main Event – Day 1AApril 26 – P100,000 APPT Cebu Main Event – Day 1BApril 27– P100,000 APPT Cebu Main Event – Day 1CApril 27– P25,000 Pot Limit OmahaApril 28 – P30,000 No Limit Hold’em – Knock-Out BountyApril 28 – P10,000 Ladies No Limit Hold’emApril 29 – P20,000 No Limit Hold’emApril 29 – P50,000 No Limit Hold’em – 6 HandedApril 30 – P250,000 High Rollers EventApril 30 – P25,000 No Limit Hold’em Deep StackEnrique del Prado Jr Jun was my classmate in Colegio del Santo Nino during our elementary days (a long time ago indeed!) and we had a business venture in the early 80s so we were that close.We also played a lot of poker not only in Cebu but also in Manila. He is a very good poker player. So I was not surprised when I heard the big news last year.Jun won the 2011 Asian Poker Tour (APT) Philippines Main Event for $179,260. He topped a field of 231 players to claim the title and some serious bragging rights.The US$2,500 buy-in event took place at the Resorts World Manila in Pasay City last year and by the time the tournament played down to its final table, six of the ten remaining players were from the PhilippinesWhen the final table began, Jun was in 4th in chips but he managed to turn things around early nearly doubling his stack with a 250k pot.He then went on to eliminate two players and by the time he entered heads up against runner-up Elton Tsang he held a nearly 3:1 chip advantage. Tsang put up a fierce fight but in the end he fell to a measly high card Jack.$1,000,000 On July 1, 2012, the World Series of Poker will host The Big One for One Drop at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino. The $1 million ! buy-in event will be the largest poker tournament ever held, with a projected eight-figure first prize22 players have already registered. It seems that in poker the sky is the limit and it`s adherents dwarfs all sports.boypestano@gmail.com,www,chessmoso.blogspot.com

Thursday, April 5, 2012

Women who wear low-cut blouses to compete in chess tournaments are being put in check.New rules dictate that women cannot reveal “decolletes” [the French word for cleavage] during the just concluded European Women`s Championship in Turkey.The European Chess Union (ECU) has revealed that several spectators have complained about the choice of clothing by some female players, while male competitors have stated that they have been distracted during games . Some female competitors are just too damn sexy.Are beautiful players using their partially-covered parts to gain advantage at chess tournaments? I think so,Sava Stoisavljevic, the female ECU General Secretary, didn’t seem to mind that the female players dressed in skimpy garments but the change in dress code was due to female players’ appearance causing a ruckus in the peanut gallery.“I heard many comments from spectators and coaches,” Stoisavljevic said “It's nice to see chess players with short skirts — they are very pretty girls. But I believe there should still be some limit.There is dress code in many different sports, and we decided to establish our rules as well.”According to the rules “Players can keep two buttons on their tops open, but no more. Skirts must be no shorter than 10 centimeters (3.9 inches) above the knee.The rules, which apply to both men and women, demand that players wear clean clothing that does not show excessive wear or holes.Players must not have body odor.Sunglasses may be worn during play; hats, with the exception of religious head garb, may not. Flip-flops are banned.”Players who are in violation of the new rules will receive several verbal and written warnings before being forced to leave the competition if they still refuse to complyAge-Group Our future chess columnist and kiddie chess-player KC Morala sent in this report.

“Young champions, from the 1st Cebu City Age Group Chess Challenge held in the Cebu City Sports Center Dance Studio last March 24-25, 2012, will lead Team Cebu to the upcoming Visayas Leg Age-Group & National Juniors Chess Championships to be held in Kalibo, Akhlan on April 7-14.

James Fernando Diloy, emerged as champion in Boys 12-under category. For the girls, Cherry Mae Caballes was affirmed champion.

The Boys 14-under Division ended up to be a fourfold tie amongst Rhenzi Kyle Sevillano, Jeffu Dorog, Ryan Pacres and Christian Pondoyo. Sevillano won in the tiebreak. Meanwhile, Laila Camel Nadera, with a record of 5 wins and no loss, took the throne for the girls category.

KC Morala earned the champion title for the Girls 16-under Category while it was Allan Pason who took the limelight for the boys in the same age class.

Other champs were Vladimir James Robillos and Regina Catherine Quiñanola for 8-under Category, Jeremy Pepito and Glesit Marie Tatoy for 10-under Category, and Romero Junrey and Carmel Socorro Loquez for 20-under Category.

CCSC and Cebu City Government will finance their transportation and meal expenses only.”

Cepca The club sponsored a tournament among its members last weekend to celebrate the birthday of its valued member ,Jun Olis, at his residence in Gunob,Lapulapu also participated by members of the Lapulapu Chess Club.

Meanwhile a cepca member, who requested to remain unidentified has won a bonanza of $20,000, He has promised to sponsor a big tournament and dinner in a 5-star hotel for board members as soon as his check will arrive. lucky fellow!boypestano@gmail.com,www.chessmoso.blogspot.com